Lexical Level Research Articles

The meaning of morphomes: distributional semantics of Spanish stem alternations

Abstract Romance stem alternations have been argued to represent exclusively morphological objects (or “morphomes”) independent from semantic and syntactic categories. This conclusion has been based on feature-value analyses of the inflected forms, and definitions of natural classes that are theoretically driven and about which no consensus exists. Individual examples of morphomes are thus frequently challenged, while their autonomously morphological nature has never been tested quantitatively or experimentally. This is the purpose of the present study. We use context-based embeddings to explore the semantic profile of Spanish verb stem alternations. At the paradigmatic level, our findings suggest that Spanish morphomes’ cells are characterized by significantly above-chance distributional-semantic similarity. At the lexical level, similarly, verbs that show more similar patterns of alternation have also been found to be closer in meaning. Both of these findings suggest that these structures may have an extramorphological function. Using gradient distributional-semantic similarity offers a way to objectively assess the degree of (un)naturalness of a set of forms and meanings, something which has been lacking from most discussions on the structure of features and the architecture of paradigms.

Metadiscursive Boosting in Russian Courtroom Discourse: Enhancing Persuasiveness in Defense Speeches

Recent studies are revealing new aspects of courtroom discourse, examining its generation and applying novel analytical methods. Yet, despite their significance and complexity, the use of metadiscursive tools remains scarce. These tools offer substantial promise for analyzing discursive practices, increasingly seen as not just informative but also interactive and impactful. The inherently interactive and persuasive nature of courtroom discourse underscores the need for metadiscourse as a potent analytical instrument. Such an instrument encompasses mechanisms for expressing attitudes toward the propositional content and for drawing the recipient into a dialogue with the speaker. This article addresses the metadiscursive dimension of defense speeches as a distinct genre within courtroom discourse. The study uses quantitative analysis on a corpus of Russian-language courtroom texts, innovatively applying metadiscursive analysis to identify linguistic elements that enhance the persuasiveness of defense speeches, with a focus on the technique of boosting. Throughout the study, five types of boosters were identified – markers of certainty, evidentiality, intensity, solidarity, and superiority – each serving one of five pragmatic functions: to show the speaker’s confidence in the truth of their assertions, to point to the credibility and reliability of the source, to amplify the emotional impact of the statement, to denote the upper bounds of a continuum, and to reference commonly known facts or shared experiences of events or situations. The study reveals that boosting at the lexical level is predominantly achieved through the use of evidential verbs and nouns, adverbs of measure, degree, and time, as well as superlative adjectives. Additionally, the frequent use of first-person plural pronouns was observed. The findings suggest that adept use of boosters in courtroom discourse is indicative of a lawyer’s pragmatic competence and is crucial for effective communication with the court and the jury.

The Problem of Semantic Shift in Modern Russian: Corpus Research on the Example of a News Media Discourse

This study discusses the issue of semantic shifts observed in high-frequency words, such as discourse, paradigm, narrative , in the news media discourse in the Russian language. It is shown that one of the effective methods of research is corpus analysis, for which an author’s corpus was created based on a random sample of texts of news articles published on the portal of the state news agency RIA Novosti over 2020-2023. Dynamic processes in the semantics of the analyzed highfrequency words were studied on the material of the National Corpus of the Russian language for the period 2000-2019. When considering the results obtained by the corpus analysis method, it was found out that, being initially the linguistic term, “narrative” turned into a functional proforma as a result of a semantic shift that occurred due to the diversity of newly acquired meanings, i.e. there was a modification of the original meaning of the word ‘ story, narration’ , which made the world into the universal one. The classical meaning of the word ‘ paradigm’ , characteristic of linguistics, is not represented in journalism, in the news media discourse it has been given other connotations such as scheme, model, idea, situation , which have moved into the core, nuclear area from the position of the near periphery. Some values are unique, so they have a small frequency (ipm). The interdisciplinary term “discourse” has turned into a term with vague semantics, but, unlike “narrative”, it is not a universal professional form, although it denotes processes occurring in various social spheres. It is shown that the semantic shift is not identical to the increase in the meaning of the word and is not determined strictly contextually. It is necessary to distinguish between the concept of semantic shift and the appearance of new meanings of the word, since the former is fixed in non-standard contexts and the demonstrated meaning cannot be clearly defined. In the course of the study, it was possible to establish that not all semantic shifts should be classified as erroneous, since it depends on the sphere in which the shift was detected. The use of the considered words in a different meaning is not profane, since the mobility of the lexical level of the language leads to transformations in speech and media discourse, allowing the appearance of texts stylistically close to the spoken style. Thus, we have identified and confirmed quantitatively the process of transformation of the words selected for analysis into pro-forms used as substitutes for a wide range of concepts.

RUSSIAN-CHINESE INACCURATE TRANSLATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE REPRESENTATIVENESS OF TRANSLATION AT THE MICROLEVEL

Representativeness of translation is a concept proposed by the famous modern Russian translation theorist S.V. Tyulenev. The translation text must correctly reflect the main theme and purpose of the source text at the macro level, correctly convey the tone of the author’s narrative and his attitude to the described realities, and in order to achieve representativeness at the macrolevel, the translator must achieve representativeness in the details that make up the whole, i. e. to realize representativeness at the microlevel. Object: in this work, the monumental creation of Leo N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” and its Chinese translation are taken as an example for study. The author alternately analyzes translation examples from the point of view of representativeness at the phonetic level, the level of word-formation models, as well as at the grammatical, lexical and syntactic levels, from different points of view investigating the causes of errors in Russian-Chinese translation. Methods: comparative analysis, generalization, correction and systematization. Findings: achieving the representativeness of a translation at the microlevel does not affect its representativeness at the macrolevel, but errors in translations that have not reached representativeness at the macrolevel can manifest themselves at any of the microlevels. Conclusions: in their professional practice, translators should strive for representativeness of translation not only at the macrolevel, but also make every effort to achieve representativeness at the microlevels described above. This will allow them to carry out the translation closest to the source text and reproduce as accurately as possible the ideological content that the author of the source text wanted to convey to the reader.

Konjunktiv II в немецких энантиосемичных синтаксических конструкциях

The article investigates enantiosemy as a linguistic phenomenon. It is understood here as a complex, multidimensional object, which is both a phenomenon that reflects a certain essence and a general linguistic category. Along with studies into enantiosemy at the phonetic, morphological, lexical, phraseological and phraseosyntactic levels, publications on enantiosemy at the syntactic level are of particular interest, since this research area is at the initial stage of development. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to study enantiosemic syntactic constructions. As the material the author used German-language works of fiction. The paper considers several enantiosemic syntactic constructions in the form of complex sentences with adverbial clauses of comparison with conjunctions als ob and als (with als wäre, als hätte, als würde). These constructions are characterized by the use of a predicate in Konjunktiv II. The asymmetry of the form and content of the syntactic constructions is investigated. Considering that enantiosemy is based on opposition, context plays an important role in the actualization of the opposite meaning. The author found that when determining the enantiosemic nature of the constructions under study, context is not always required. In addition, it is noted that in most cases the selected syntactic constructions are asymmetrical. According to the results of the study, some of the proposed schemes, which can help to identify such constructions in the German language, can be introduced into scholarly discourse. The analysis of enantiosemic syntactic constructions contributes to further research into German syntax and can be of use when translating German texts.

Preferences in the use of overabundance: predictors of lexical bias in Estonian

Abstract This study of morphological overabundance focuses on the (non-)synonymy of parallel forms in Estonian illative case (‘into’) and the type of entrenchment behind it. We focus on the lexical level, testing whether the form preferred for a lexeme depends on semantic or morphophonological factors, or both. Using multifactorial regression analyses, we compare three corpus datasets: lexemes biased toward long forms, those biased toward short forms and lexemes with balanced form distribution. This is the first study to investigate realised overabundance in this way, and to include inflection class membership in the model, enabling us to test whether declension class subsumes the morphophonological factors found to affect form preference in previous studies. The analysis shows that cell token frequency and inflection class are significant predictors of form preference, while the lexical-semantic features included in the study do not affect formative choice, highlighting the role of cell entrenchment instead of formative entrenchment in guiding form use. In conclusion, the study highlights the important role of inflection class (morphophonology) in the general shaping of form usage patterns in parallel forms and the weak role of semantic factors on the lexical level.

Formation of the semiotic component of speech in senior preschool children with logopathology

The scientific publication presents a theoretical and experimental-comparative analysis of the formation of the semiotic component of speech in senior preschool children with speech disorders. The purpose of the study is to investigate the dynamics of the development of the semiotic component of speech in senior preschool children with speech pathology after correctional educational and developmental intervention. The methods of the study are: theoretical − analysis of scientific sources to solve the problematic issue; empirical − use of diagnostic tools (tasks − educational, game, research, during which children with speech disorders study phonemic, lexical, grammatical and prosodic levels of speech; analysis; comparison), formative (game, verbal, exercises, etc.) and variable statistical (quantitative and qualitative) ones. Results of the study. Corrective educational and developmental work on the formation of the semiotic component of speech in senior preschool children with speech pathology took place at the propedeutic-foundational (preparing the child for the acquisition of basic speech and language knowledge and skills), variably sequential (providing a combination of visual and speech actions), speech-active (involving the child in the speech environment) stages. Additionally, the methods and techniques of correctional educational and developmental work are substantiated. The compared materials of the study of the ascertaining and formative experiments testified to the dynamics of the development of the semiotic component of speech in children with logopathology. The children studied improved their phonemic (perception, analysis and representation), lexical (expressive and impressive speech), grammatical (composing stories, agreeing verbs with the subject in number, declining nouns and adjectives, modifying verbs by person and number, use diminutives and pet forms of nouns in all genders and cases) and prosodic (normative voice power, speech rate, expressive intonation and clear diction) levels of speech

On Translation of Chinese-Specific Expressions in Publicity Translation in the Light of Skopostheorie- A Case Study on Xi Jinping: The Governance of China IV

Translation of Chinese-specific expressions is among the toughest parts for international communication, since the language has shaped profound expressions that are unique to the nation only. Xi Jinping: the Governance of China, as a compilation on China’s international publicity, is an authoritative work with Chinese characteristics that demonstrates the country’s latest developments. This paper, taking Xi Jinping: the Governance of China Ⅳ as an example, explores the strategies and methods in translating Chinese-specific expressions at lexical and syntactical levels in the light of Skopostheorie, thereby providing a reference to the future study of international publicity translation.

Tomasa Stērnsa Eliota “Nīkā zeme” pirms 30 gadiem un šodien: Ievas Lešinskas tulkojuma versijas

In 2022, a hundred years were celebrated since the publication of the poem The Waste Land by Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965). The article deals with a comparison of two translations of the poem in Latvian. The first translation was published in the magazine Avots in 1990, and the second – in Eliot’s Selected Poems, published in 2022. Both translations are done by Ieva Lešinska (b. 1958) in completely different cultural and historical contexts. The article aims to analyse the differences between two Lešinska’s Latvian translations of The Waste Land and establish the main tendencies, tracing the changes made in the text of the translation. The comparative analysis of the translations uses some concepts and approaches of cognitive poetics. Attention is paid to changes in dominants; the changes are analysed in the context of English modernism and Eliot’s works and in comparison with the source text. The changes in the translation can be observed on the level of lexis, syntax, morphology, and semantics, as well as in the aspects of form.

The productive processing of formulaic sequences by second language learners in writing.

There has been much debate in psycholinguistic research on whether formulaic sequences (FSs) are processed holistically or in a compositional manner. Whereas most previous studies on this issue focused on the receptive processing of FSs, few have investigated the productive processing of FSs, particularly in the second language (L2) learning context. Besides, most previous studies on L2 FSs examined learner-external FSs, or those identified by external criteria such as corpus frequency with little attention to learner-internal FSs, or psychological units perceived as wholes by learners themselves, although there might be much overlap between learner-external and learner-internal FSs. This study was designed to explore the productive processing of FSs by L2 learners from their own perspective, while taking into account the effects of L2 proficiency and topic familiarity. It made a distinction between internal FSs and purely external FSs as the primary criterion of categorizing learners' processing behaviors. Ten Chinese English learners from two proficiency levels completed two writing tasks differing in topic familiarity. Upon the completion of each task, each participant and the researcher identified the FSs separately and then distinguished internal FSs and purely external FSs (termed as assembled FSs, since they were perceived as being assembled from scratch) collectively. Next, each participant performed video stimulated recall (VSR) for the production process of each FS. The results showed that the learners' conscious processing (i.e., retrieval/assembly and integration into the text) of FSs can be categorized on two levels (lexical and syntactic). There was more holistic processing than compositional processing on the lexical level, but not on the syntactic level, indicating the learners' sizable storages of FSs and the syntactic flexibility of FSs. Furthermore, between-group differences and between-task differences were detected on two processing levels: higher-proficiency students retrieved more internal FSs and made more modifications to them than their lower-proficiency counterparts; in the familiar-topic writing, learners retrieved more internal FSs and made less modifications to them. Based on the findings, a model of L2 FS production is proposed, and pedagogical implications for the teaching of L2 FSs are provided.

Managing rapport through persuasion

This study analyses COVID-19 persuasive communication in the context of Chinese Weibo. Although COVID-19 has been investigated by linguistics scholars, little attention has been paid to how communication can help persuade and comfort people during the pandemic. Considering the exponentially augmented impact of digital platforms and their obvious public utility in the handling of future pandemics, it is worth studying the social media persuasive communication about COVID-19. Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, is an immensely popular platform where celebrity “influencers” shape views of the pandemic. From perspectives of relational acts and rapport management, this analysis of Chinese celebrity Weibo posts identifies persuasion at the lexical, syntactic and discursive levels to elucidate how celebrities reassure the public and manage relationships with their audience during the pandemic. The findings reveal that the celebrities use interactional metadiscourse lexicons, syntactic rhetorical devices and discursive framing strategies to maximise persuasion. This study broadens data sets of COVID-19 communications pertaining to the Chinese social media context, offers novel insights into rationales and frameworks of persuasion, and sheds light on the research of rapport management in celebrity discourse. Ultimately, it suggests that creating positive social media communication is an important goal during the pandemic.

Венецыянская Біблія – „Бивлия руска” Францыска Скарыны: механічнае прытрымліванне ці творчая перапрацоўка?

The article is devoted to some features of the translation technique used by the famous forerunner of Belarusian printing Francysk Skaryna when translating the Holy Scriptures. Francysk Skaryna is one of the greatest figures of Belarusian Renaissance. Numerous scientific investigations have been devoted to his work, but his legacy still remains terra incognita. One of the questions concerns the original he used when translating the Holy Scriptures – the ancient Hebrew Masoretic text, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Czech translation of the Bible, or the Bible in the Church Slavonic language? The article presents the results of the textual analysis of the Book of Job, the Book of the prophet Daniel, and the Book of Ecclesiastes, as well as numerous examples of Skaryna’s use of the Czech translation of the Bible. It should be noted that in some cases when translating well known passages, he used the Church Slavonic translation of the Holy Scriptures. Frequent lexical elements and collocations from the Old Church Slavonic canon entered Skaryna’s translation of the Bible. The article concludes that it was the archaic of Church Slavonic text of the Bible that prompted Skaryna to reach for another, more modern version – the Czech translation. As a result, a hybrid text was created, in which both Church Slavonic and Czech elements were presented at the lexical level.

Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion as a Tool for Reflecting Social Processes in the Lexical Neoformations of Youth English Slang

The article discusses various approaches to defining the terminological base, the ambiguity of definitions, the lack of clear boundaries and signs of the concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion. The notions under study are characterized by way of their reference to communication process circumstances and participants, who are contrasted in their social status, cultural experience, ideological ideas and worldview to other social groups. The article analyzes slang neoformations with the concern for stylistically reduced register of communication as objectifying categories of social exclusion and social inclusion within the framework of youth discourse, which determine the developing vector of both society structure on the whole and social subsystems of the language. The novelty and relevance of the study lie in the use of linguocognitive analysis of authentic material, on the basis of which the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion of slang lexical units are differentiated. The regularity in actualization of social exclusion or inclusion is understood in connection with the mechanisms and possibilities of using communicative practices in order to include social groups in social processes. These phenomena are reflected at the lexical level of the language and might contribute to various transformations of social consciousness, increasing language efficiency and its ability to respond to current challenges. It is concluded that modern youth slang is a specific language model that acts as an instrument of social exclusion or inclusion; in communicative practices, it is embodied through pejorative slang nominations thus strategically and tactically forming a negative image and antisocial behavior. The results of the research contribute to further study of the communicative nature of sociolinguistic phenomena, to comparative studies of the discursive construction of socially significant fragments of social reality, and the communicative manifestation of multidirectional social processes that determine the social structure and stratification of society.

功能对等视角下《哪吒之魔童降世》的字幕维译研究

The secret to effective film communication is excellent film subtitle translation. The reproduction of the original text is emphasized by Eugene A. Nida’s functional equivalence theory. This paper explores the movie subtitle translation from the standpoint of functional equivalence theory at the lexical, syntactic, and phonetic levels, using the Uyghur translation of “Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child” as an example. It then illustrates the issues with the translation and suggests solutions. The study found that functional equivalence theory can examine the Uyghur translation of movie subtitles thoroughly and offer guidelines for translators to raise the quality of their work.

MULTI-WORD EXPRESSIONS IN ANNUAL REPORTS OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH CORPORATIONS: A CORPUS-BASED DIACHRONIC STUDY

The aim of the paper was to do diachronic linguistic research in Corporate English by doing a lexical analysis of American and British annual reports for fiscal years 2002 and 2021. Corporations, as entities of creative disruption, stay at the heart of capitalism and act as the engine of technological development in the world. However, the language of their communication with their owners (shareholders) and other stakeholders interested in their performance, such as employees, suppliers, lenders, and prospective owners, has not been empirically analysed. The article provides the results of diachronic corpus-based research of multi-word expressions (MWEs) in Corporate English. The annual reports of ten American and ten British corporations for fiscal years 2001 and 2021 were analysed separately to get information about the lexical changes that occurred in these financial documents in two variants of English over two decades. The results of the research revealed both differences and diachronic changes at the lexical level in American and British Corporate English and the same can be used in BE classes to make BE students aware of two varieties of English by presenting and practicing real empirically proved vocabulary. The results of the research can be used in BE classes in a variety of ways, bearing in mind that BE students, to communicate effectively, should be exposed to the newest vocabulary used in the business world.

Processing code-blending beyond the lexical level: evidence for a double syntactic derivation?

Abstract Bimodal bilinguals master languages in two modalities, spoken and signed, and can use them simultaneously due to the independence of the articulators. This behavior, named code-blending, is one of the hallmarks of bimodal bilingualism. Lexical experiments on production and comprehension in American Sign Language/English showed that blending is not cognitively costly and facilitates lexical access. In this work, we replicated the blending advantage in lexical comprehension for hearing bimodal bilinguals with two other language pairs, French Sign Language (LSF)–French and Italian Sign Language (LIS)–Italian, and we explored whether the facilitation is also found at the sentential level. Results show that blended utterances for languages with incongruent word order like LIS–Italian were processed slower than monolingual utterances, while no difference was found when the word orders were congruent (LSF–French). We discuss these findings in light of linguistic theories of syntactic structure derivation in bimodal bilinguals.

The Influence of Chinese Characters on Chinese Sign Language

Chinese Sign Language (CSL) and Chinese are languages used in the Chinese mainland. As a dominant language, Chinese has great influence on all levels of CSL. CSL, as a visual sign language, is fundamentally different from Chinese in linguistic structure. Unlike English, Chinese, as a pictograph, has influence on Chinese and CSL. This study explains in detail the influence of Chinese characters on CSL at the lexical level, including many elements from Chinese, such as “仿字 fangzi” (form imitating Chinese characters), “书空 shukong” (writing in the air with the index finger), loan translation, finger spelling, and mouthing patterns. This influence is not a simple borrowing of Chinese characters, but a creative imitation and adaptation according to the needs of sign language to express meaning. After a long period of evolution, the characteristics of Chinese characters are naturally integrated into CSL loanwords, which makes the relationship between sign language and Chinese characters closer. CSL borrows a large number of Chinese words, most of which are signs to express non-core concepts. These borrowed signs are an indispensable part of the CSL sign language family, enrich sign language vocabulary, improve the accuracy of sign language expression, and play a positive role in promoting the learning, work, and lives of deaf people.

Natural language processing in electronic health records: A review

The two fundamental tasks that a physician performs during every interaction with a patient are reading and updating electronic health records (EHRs). Reading the records is necessary to gain better knowledge of a patient’s health status while updating the records is essential for creating a database for future information extraction. If a patient’s history consists of only a few records, manual reading is the best approach. However, this method may lead to overlooking important aspects of the patient’s health, which could be detrimental. Therefore, automation is required to extract important information. Natural language processing (NLP) facilitates information extraction and operates on seven different levels. In our review, we aimed to understand how NLP levels assist in extracting information. We examined articles published in PubMed and, after critical evaluation, selected 65 out of 382 identified articles that met the inclusion criteria for the final review. Among these, 47 articles were included in the final review. We found a higher number of articles on the lexical (7), semantic (30), and morphological (4) levels, while fewer articles focused on the phonetic (1), syntactic (2), discourse (2), and pragmatic (1) levels. This distribution underscores the current emphasis within the literature on the specific aspects of NLP. In conclusion, our review underscores the critical role played by NLP in extracting information from EHR, shedding light on the varied levels at which this technology operates.

Лексичний рівень у лінгвістичній (семантико-текстуальній) експертизі

The purpose of this article is to define the concept of the lexical level in linguistic (semantic and textual) expertise, to highlight the need for and propose the creation of an explanatory dictionary on a specific topic. Semantic and textual expertise solves the tasks of establishing the content of concepts, the lexical meaning of words or phrases used in the texts or oral communications provided for the study, their stylistic coloring, semantic load, and the nature of the information contained therein. The objects of such examination are the products of speech activity recorded in writing. The subject of this type of research is factual data that have in their structure statements that encourage certain actions (speech constructions). The lexical level is a key element of analysis in linguistic (semantic and textual) expertise, which helps to understand the text and its possible interpretations. Lexicology is a branch of linguistics that studies the word as the basic unit of language and the vocabulary of the language – the lexicon. The lexical meaning of a word is the real, subject-conceptual content of the word, which is expressed by the base or root. The lexical level in linguistic (semantic and textual) expertise is one of the main stages of text analysis to determine its meaning. In connection with the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the demand for linguistic (semantic and textual) expertise has increased in judicial practice. Typical forensic examinations appointed during the investigation of collaboration activities are forensic semantic and textual examinations – in 41 criminal proceedings (27.3% of cases). Therefore, it is important to create a special explanatory dictionary by linguists together with lawyers.

LINGUOPOETIC ANALYSIS OF BAROQUE UKRAINIAN ELEGY "CUPIDO SEU AMOR ALATUS" BY ILARION YAROSHEVYTSKYI

Background. Latin baroque literature of Ukraine represents inheritance and unique interpretation of classical and medieval plots. Ukrainian poets and Ilarion Yaroshevytskyi, in particular, demonstrate their literary mastership and cultural reception of the time. His poem reflects the baroque worldview of distorted world and struggle of good and evil, spirit and flesh, Christian and pagan views, ascetic and secular life. The goal of the article was to conduct in-depth analysis of linguopoetic peculiarities of the poem in order to present the author's embodiment of the baroque worldview by the language means. Methods. The following methods were employed: method of linguostylistic and linguopoetic analysis, method of cultural interpretation, contextual and interpretative method, classification, systematization and generalization. Results. Analysis of the elegiac poem revealed the following linguopoetic peculiarities: 1) at lexical level – the use of mythological names denoting divinities and their epithets (Mars / Gradivus, Venus / Diona / Cypris / Erycina, Artemis, Lar); mythological characters (the Meduse Gorgon, Daedalus and Icarus, Eryx, Charybdis); 2) at syntactic level – parallel constructions / chiasm; inversion of the three types; 3) at stylistic level – direct speech; irony; repepetitions; comparisons; 4) at conceptual level – the oppositions of war and peace; secular and ascetic life; christian and mythological worldviews; spiritual and corporeal love. Conclusion. Latin elegy, represented in a poetic course "Cedrus Apollinis", contributed to the development of the genre in Ukrainian baroque literature and corresponded to the classical Latin samples. The poem demonstrates the author's awareness of mythological and medieval plots and their bizarre combination in elegiac genre.